Judge to study felon's plea for help suing West Lafayette

Change of heart; court-appointed attorney at issue

10:11 PM,
Dec. 7, 2012

Officer David Smith

Written by

Sophia Voravong
svoravong@jconline.com

The benefit of a court-appointed attorney is typically reserved for criminal defendants who have no assets, source of income or family willing to front the money for private counsel - and not plaintiffs who want to sue another person, the government or a business.

But one could be granted to 23-year-old Brandon M. Winters, a convicted felon from Lafayette, in a civil lawsuit he has filed against the city of West Lafayette and the police officer who shot him during a robbery investigation three years ago.

In an order signed Nov. 27, Chief Judge Philip P. Simon of U.S. District Court in Hammond ...